Madelay city tour in tuk tuk
I and two roommates were lucky to find a 50% discounted tuk tuk as the driver’s first group of customers ( like in many Asian countries, businesses want to do the first deal of the day smoothly as a lucky start), instead of riding on a bicycle in a rainy day miserably.
Out first stop is the Maha Gandhayon Monastery, Burma's most prominent monastic college, to see 11 an "feeding time" and hundreds of monks line up in their bowls as they march past in double file. Its quite a quaint ceremony. The second stop was tha U-Bein Bridge, the longest teak footbridge in the world and spas around 1300 yards long across the Taungthaman Lake. In wet season, reflections in the lake is stunning; however, it is dry season now.
The third stop was the Mahamuni Pagoda that houses the Mahamuni Buddha image, the most highly revered Buddha image in the country.
To pay respect to the Buddha image, male devotees apply gold leaf to the image, such that Mahamuni Buddha is covered with a thick layer of gold leaf of about 15 centimeters, which has distorted the shape of the image.
The forth stop was to Climb 1700-step up the Mandalay Hill and see elevated views of the city walls, the surrounding moat, and various temples and pagodas with Irrawaddy River. The climb has to be done barefoot up a covered concrete staircase.
The fifth stop was the Sandamuni Pagoda with the largest iron Buddha, made up of over 41,000 pounds of iron and large golden zedi along with hundreds of shrines containing inscribed marble slabs. The entire area has 1774 shrines, each housing a single marble slab which are inscribed with the teachings of the Buddha.
The six stop was Kuthodaw Pagoda Located right across each other, these two pagodas are quite similar. However, Kuthodaw Pagoda is home to the world’s largest “book” made up of 729 standing stone “pages” with individual stupas known as a kyauksa gu. They span across the vast pagoda grounds in long organized rows. Filled with sacred teachings representing 15 books of Buddha’s teachings, every page of the book is about a meter wide and two meters tall.
Our last stop was Atumashi Monastery built with its peculiar feature being surmounted by five graduated rectangular terraces instead of the traditional pyatthats, Burmese-style tiered and spired roof.
Out first stop is the Maha Gandhayon Monastery, Burma's most prominent monastic college, to see 11 an "feeding time" and hundreds of monks line up in their bowls as they march past in double file. Its quite a quaint ceremony. The second stop was tha U-Bein Bridge, the longest teak footbridge in the world and spas around 1300 yards long across the Taungthaman Lake. In wet season, reflections in the lake is stunning; however, it is dry season now.
The third stop was the Mahamuni Pagoda that houses the Mahamuni Buddha image, the most highly revered Buddha image in the country.
To pay respect to the Buddha image, male devotees apply gold leaf to the image, such that Mahamuni Buddha is covered with a thick layer of gold leaf of about 15 centimeters, which has distorted the shape of the image.
The forth stop was to Climb 1700-step up the Mandalay Hill and see elevated views of the city walls, the surrounding moat, and various temples and pagodas with Irrawaddy River. The climb has to be done barefoot up a covered concrete staircase.
The fifth stop was the Sandamuni Pagoda with the largest iron Buddha, made up of over 41,000 pounds of iron and large golden zedi along with hundreds of shrines containing inscribed marble slabs. The entire area has 1774 shrines, each housing a single marble slab which are inscribed with the teachings of the Buddha.
The six stop was Kuthodaw Pagoda Located right across each other, these two pagodas are quite similar. However, Kuthodaw Pagoda is home to the world’s largest “book” made up of 729 standing stone “pages” with individual stupas known as a kyauksa gu. They span across the vast pagoda grounds in long organized rows. Filled with sacred teachings representing 15 books of Buddha’s teachings, every page of the book is about a meter wide and two meters tall.
Our last stop was Atumashi Monastery built with its peculiar feature being surmounted by five graduated rectangular terraces instead of the traditional pyatthats, Burmese-style tiered and spired roof.
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